By Tim Royner: Kell Brook says he relishes the idea of going to war against Sergey Rabchenko in his first fight in the junior middleweight division on March 3 at the Sheffield Arena, in Sheffield, UK.
Brook, 31, says he knows Rabchenko (29-2, 22 KOs) is going to be a tough opponent for him, but he doesn’t care. Brook (36-2, 25 KOs) is motivated to slug it out with the Belarusian fighter, and he’s not going to give an inch.
Brook-Rabchenko will be televised live on Sky Sports Action on March 3. This is Brook’s first fight since losing to Errol Spence Jr. last year on May 27. Spence wore Brook down in causing him to take a knee in round 11 and not get back up. Brook suffered an eye injury during the fight. It was the same type of eye injury that he suffered in his fight before that against middleweight champion Gennady ‘GGG’ Golovkin in September 2016. Brook is hoping that his eye problems are behind him now. He plans on fighting Amir Khan later this year as long as he’s healthy enough to take the fight.
“I’m going to be a real handful on March 3. I’m rising again, I’m coming back and can’t wait to be chucking plenty of chocolate brownies and getting in a tear-up,” Brook said to Sky Sports News about Rabchenko.
The boxing world wonders what Brook was thinking about with his decision to fight Rabchenko instead of weaker puncher not known for being a big banger. Rabchenko is a slugger, and he has very good power.
Rabchenko might even be a bigger puncher than Spence. Rabchenko is not as skilled as Spence, but he’s right there in the power department with him. Brook can’t afford to let Rabchenko connect with too many of his shots because he might break him apart the way Spence and Golovkin did.
Up until his last 2 fights against Spence and Golovkin, Brook has always been the stronger fighter in his bouts. Brook could afford to go to war with his over-matched opposition because he was fighting guys like Frankie Gavin, Kevin Bizier, Jo Jo Dan, Carson Jones, Alvarado Robles, Hector Saldivia and Matthew Hatton. In Brook’s fight with Shawn Porter in August 2014, he spent the better part of the fight tying him up to keep him from getting his shots off. Porter was the only good welterweight that Brook had fought during his career until he met up with Spence. You can’t count Golovkin, because that a middleweight that Brook volunteered to fight.
“I could have picked easier opponents but I needed the bit between my teeth and not be cutting corners,” Brook said of Rabchenko. “I have to be fully on it – if not I could get found out in this fight.”
Brook has everything to lose if he gets beaten by Rabchenko. The fight that Brook has been dreaming of for years, a match against Amir Khan, will be gone. Khan isn’t going to face a fighter with 3 consecutive defeats. Brook has lost his last 2 fights. If he gets beaten by Rabchenko, that would be his third straight, and a clear sign that he’s finished as a fighter.
If Brook can’t go back down to 147 to resume fighting at welterweight, he would be forced to face guys that are too strong for him, and that would be the end of his career as a top fighter. Losing to Rabchenko would be a crushing blow to Brook’s career, because he’s not one of the major talents at 154. Rabchenko would likely be destroyed by the contenders like Erickson Lubin, Juan Williams, Austin Trout, and Maciej Sulecki. Rabchenko is in the Yoshihiro Kamegai class. He’s a guy that can hit hard, but who is easy to out-box. If Brook loses to Rabchenko, it’s over for him.